Stone Soup, by Jon J Muth

When hungry strangers come to town, everyone shares a small amount of their food to make a delicious soup which the whole town can enjoy.

Materials

Oil pastels
Rock collection
Make ahead BINGO cards
Crockpot and ingredients found in Resources.
3-4 pots to use throughout the room today
Several plastic bowls and two soup ladles
Looking Down & Up cards

Vocabulary

Monk (like a minister or religious person)
Famine (where there is not enough food and everyone is hungry)
Suspicious (not trusting)
Scholar (someone who does research and is very smart)

Before Reading the Story

Ask the children how many of them like soup? What kinds of soups do you like to eat? Hold up the cover of the book and read the title. Ask the children if they can guess what they are looking into? What do you think they will do with the pot? Introduce the story.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates progress in abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story. AND Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

Reading the Story

On the page where the monks first enter the village, ask the children why they think everyone closed their windows? (The villagers did not trust anyone)

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare and contrast objects, events, and experiences. AND Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; progresses in abilities to initiate and respond appropriately in conversation and discussions with peers and adults.

After Reading the Story

Remind the children that the villagers each shared some of their food to make the delicious soup for everyone. Spend a moment talking about sharing. Point out any acts of sharing that you have recently seen in your classroom (Jamie shared a red marker with Sue when hers stopped working. Thank you Jamie for sharing). Ask the children to think of a time when they shared with another person. How did it make you feel? How did it make the other person feel? What kinds of things are more fun to do when you share them with another person?

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; progresses in abilities to initiate and respond appropriately in conversation and discussions with peers and adults. AND Social & Emotional Development/Cooperation; increases abilities to sustain interactions with peers by helping, sharing, and discussion.

At the end of the story, the villagers said that sharing makes everyone feel richer and happy. As you see children sharing throughout the day, thank them for their generous spirit and thoughtfulness.

Discovery

Put out a rock collection for the children to compare and sort. Add magnifying glasses.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows increasing abilities to match, sort, put in a series, and regroup objects according to one or two attributes such as shape or size.

Nutrition bingo. Ahead of time use the BINGO card and the veggie pictures to make BINGO cards. Remember to make each on different. Make a master card of all the veggies that you have glued to the BINGO cards to use for the draw pile.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Curiosity; grows in abilities to persist in and complete a variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Bring in a crock pot and the ingredients needed to make your own classroom stone soup.

Music and Movement

Bring your plastic veggies to the carpet and sing, The Soup is Boiling Up. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hx6ZdPysVeA

Tell the children that you know how to make chocolate soup and sing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRFTzna6bGE

Creative Arts/Music; participates with increasing interest and enjoyment in a variety of music activities including; listening, singing, finger plays, games, and performances.

Tell the children that you are going to pretend to buy items to put into your soup. Have the children name items that go into the soup (real or funny) and count! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt0jjke_Jns

Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & Problem Solving; develops increasing ability to find more than one solution to a question, task, or problem.

Open the page that shows after the banquet with the musicians playing instruments. Tell the children that you would like to bring out your instruments, play and sing songs at the children’s requests.

Creative Arts/Music; experiments with a variety of musical instruments.

Blocks

Remind the children that the monks came to a village (community, town). Challenge the children to build a village using the blocks today. If you have people figures, you can add these to the center to enhance the village. Add paper and pencil in case someone would like to add any signs to the buildings.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; begins to express and understand concepts and language of geography in the contexts of the classroom, home, and community.

Art

Give the children a piece of white construction paper with one of the foods from the story printed or drawn on it (use black permanent marker). Let the children color the food item using the oil pastels. When they are finished, show them how to use watery watercolors to paint over their food. The watercolors will not stick where the oil pastel is making the oil pastels pop. You might want to practice once before you help the children so that you can get the right watery watercolor.

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Sand and Water

Fill the pot with water and put into in the sensory table today along with the plastic bowls and ladils. Show the children how to ladil the soup carefully into the bowls without spilling.

Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; develops growing strength, dexterity, and control needed to use tools such as scissors, paper punch, stapler, and hammer.

Library and Writing

Alphabet soup. Put a pot in the center with magnet letters. The children can take turns pulling out a letter and naming.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 10 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

Dramatic Play

Add stones and a big pot for making stone soup. Act out story. Ask different children to add a food from your play food.

Math and Manipulatives

Remind the children that the cover of the book had everyone looking down into the pot. Explain that you have a sorting game where the children must sort if they are looking down or up. Use the cards in Resources.

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; builds an increasing understanding of directionality, order, and positions of objects, and words such as up, down, over, under, top, bottom, inside, outside, in front, and behind.

Outdoor Play

If you have a parachute, bring it out with several balls. Have the children stand around the edges of the parachute and toss the balls into the center. The children must try not to let the balls roll out of the parachute ans it moves up and down.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; participates actively in games, outdoor play, and other forms of exercise that enhance physical fitness.

Transitions

Remind the children that In the story, the youngest monk asked, “what makes you happy”? Ask the children this same question and write their responses onto a piece of paper to hang on the wall. “Things that make us happy”.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, and preferences.

Resources

Froggy Goes to Bed, by Jonathan London

It’s time for Froggy to go to bed but first he must prepare. Froggy has so many things to do will he ever get to sleep? This is a fun story to help children recall nightly rituals of their own.

Materials

Quilt pattern and many one-inch squares
Non-breakable mirrors

Vocabulary

Routine (schedule of events from one time to another, lunch to nap time)
Quilt (a blanket with a pattern design on it)

Before reading the story

Ask the children if they know what a routine is? Tell the children that routine means the schedule or practices of things that they do every day or night. Can they think of any routines that they do? Remind them about your classroom schedule, or your lunch routine. Show the cover of the book and tell them this is the story about Froggy’s bedtime routine. Ask them if they have any bedtime routines. Write them down on a large sheet of paper.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; develops growing capacity for independence in a range of activities, routines, and tasks.

Reading the Story

Read with a soft soothing voice.

After Reading the Story

Take back out your large sheet of paper that the children told their night time routines and compare them to Froggy’s. (Kerry said that she brushes her teeth before she goes to bed and so does Froggy). Highlight all the similarities between the story and the children’s bedtime routines.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction and non-fiction books, and poetry.

Discovery

Put out mirrors so when the children brush their teeth today they can look at their teeth to see if they got them pearly white. Today would be a good day to put out any teeth that you might have (pictures or real) as well as a large set of teeth that the children can examine with magnifying glasses.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; shows growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and personal care when eating, washing hands, brushing teeth, or toileting.

Music and Movement

Take the children’s list of bedtime routines and sing them to the tune of This is the Way. This is the way we wash our face, wash our face, wash our face. This is the way we wash our face when it’s time for bed. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XLQpRI_wOQ

Put on the video, Rubber Duckie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mh85R-S-dh8, and let the children dance.

Blocks

Art

Cut out pictures of food you like to eat and glue to a paper plate, a bedtime snack. Add a picture of a fly or two for fun.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, or preferences.

Sand and Water

Fill the table with water and bubbles. Add rubber animals or hard baby dolls to pretend it is bathtime. Add a washcloth for the children to wash the animals/dolls and a towel for drying.

Physical Health & Development/Health Status & Practices; shows growing independence in hygiene, nutrition, and personal care when eating, washing hands, brushing teeth, or toileting.

Library and Writing

Talk to the children about the part of the day between lunch and nap. What are your classroom routines? Have the children help illustrate these events and make a classroom book titled, Children, It’s Time to Nap. On the bottom of each page write “but first we need to_________”.

Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; develops growing capacity for independence in a range of activities, routines, and tasks.

Dramatic Play

Act out bedtime routines. Remind the children to think about the things that Froggy had to do before he fell asleep.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; demonstrates abilities to retell and dictate stories from books and experiences; to act out stories in dramatic play; and to predict what will happen next in a story.

Math and Manipulatives

Make several copies of the quilt grid. Cover with contact paper. Cut out many 1 – inch squares from assorted papers (construction, wrapping, foiled,etc) Cover these with contact paper also. Show the children how to make simple patterns ABABAB to fill the paper. For younger children you might have to make a sample that they can copy the first time.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; enhances abilities to recognize, duplicate, and extend simple patterns using a variety of materials.

Outdoor Play

If you have a parachute you can tell the children to lay on the ground and put their bodies under with only their head exposed for sleep. You can have them take turns running under the covers/parachute. Hop across to the other side like a frog.

Language Development/Listening & Understanding; shows progress in understanding and following simple and multiple step directions.

Transitions

Shout out child’s name as their cue to go to the next activity. KERRY! Or K-E-R-R-Y!!!!! go and find a center.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; shows progress in associating the names of letters with their shape and sounds.

Resources

Make several sets and use these for patterns making with older children.

The Magic Fish, Winslow Pinney Pels adapted by Freya Littledale

A fisherman goes out to sea and catches a magic fish! The fish brings forth wishes. What will the man wish for? Will the wishes make he and his wife happy?

Materials

How to draw a fish rebus cards
Whole fish, keep on ice till ready to use! (See Discovery)

Vocabulary

Wish (something that someone really hopes they will get because they really want it)
Bossy (Someone who tells other people what to do all the time)
Sea ( another name for the ocean)
Castle ( a really huge house where a might princess lives)
Queen ( the princesses mother and the boss of the land)

Before reading the Story

Ask the children if they know the word bossy means. Talk about how lots of people do not like it when someone is always telling them what to do. Talk about how cooperation is better to help people get along.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; develops increasing abilities ti understand and use language to communicate information, experiences, ideas, feelings, opinions, needs, questions; and for other varied purposes.

Reading the Story

As the fisherman calls to the fish, encourage the children to help you call. When you speak from the fish, make sure to add some attitude to your voice each time the fisherman comes back and asks for another wish.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry.

After Reading the Story

Ask the children if they liked the fisherman in the story? Do you think he was nice? (yes cause he told the fish his wife wanted a castle). Did you like the wife in the story? Was she nice? (no cause she was bossy to the man). Did you like the fish in the story? (no cause he took all the stuff back). Accept all answers.

Literacy/Book Knowledge & Appreciation; shows growing interest and involvement in listening to and discussing a variety of fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. AND Approaches to Learning/Reasoning & problem-Solving; develops increasing abilities to classify, compare, and contrast objects, events, and experiences.

Discovery

If you are so lucky to have a fisherperson in your classroom or life, I love doing this project with children. It really is very cool. I have brought in several small perch to a long gar fish. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yga-uaYEWHQ If not, you could ask your director if they could purchase several whole fish from the grocers. When you are finished, talk about the parts of the fish that they see on their finished product.

Science/Scientific Knowledge; expands knowledge of and abilities to observe, describe, and discuss the natural world, materials, living things, and natural processes.

Music and Movement

Teach the children the action poem Fishy, Fishy.

Fishy, fishy in the brook Put hands together and make a fish, wiggle back & forth

Daddy catch him with a hook. Pretend to throw line out

Mommy fry you in a pan, Hold hands palms up and rock back and forth

I can eat you, yes I can. Pretend to eat fish

Blocks

Challenge the children you make a boat out of the blocks so we can go fishing. Which blocks will we have to use? How will you make it big enough for the 3 of you?

Mathematics/Geometry & Spatial Sense; progresses in ability to put shapes together and take shapes apart.

Art

Teach the children how to draw a fish using basic shapes. Let them draw fish and decorate with crayons or markers. Use the fish drawing cards.

Literacy/Print Awareness; develops growing understanding of different functions of forms of print such as signs, letters, newspapers, lists, messages, and menus. AND Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; grows in abilities to persist in and complete a variety of tasks, activities, projects, and experiences.

Math & Manipulatives

Cut out fish shapes in several colors of paper. Write a letter on each side of the fish. Use letters that are from the childrens names. Attach a paperclip to each fish. Attach a magnet to a stick with a piece of yarn. Let the children fish for letter fish.

Literacy/Alphabet Knowledge; identifies at least 19 letters of the alphabet, especially those in their own name.

Library & Writing

Ask the children to draw a picture of something they wish for. Write their dictation on the bottom of the page. (I wish I could get a puppy. I wish my brother would not hit me).

Literacy/Early Writing; begins to represent stories and experiences through pictures, dictation, and in play.

Sand and Water;

Water play. Add any small boats or fish that you might have.

Dramatic play

Bring in pictures, silk flowers, or something different to spruce up the center and make it more beautiful.

Outdoor Play

Look for long sticks on the playground and attach yarn to one end and we use a pine cone at the other. The children can then pretend to go fishing. You could also have the children pretend to be fish and then get caught on a fishing pole.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Transitions

Ask the children to tell something they might wish for as they go off to the next activity.